@5 - okay, first off, now you are making me want to join inkitout because eeh writing comm eeh original character intros (yeeeaah I have some OCs I am very keen on showing off *g*), but now I am hiding in fear of the sign-up. 75k words over the year as a recommended minimum? um I am trying to get myself writing at all. :(
More importantly and without the selfish whinging, I am totally with you. Um. I tend to think that knowing your character's history, their values, how they will act in any situation (both of which will be strongly informed by their history!) is much more important than knowing their favourite colour. (I'm not sure I know *my* favourite colour either. And definitely not my favourite author.) And I think there are, like, useful and nonuseful ways to approach the question? Like. "Zdeika's favourite colour is teal" tells me nothing. "Zdeika does not believe in the concept of favourite colours because she thinks that is far too static a concept; if you ask her anyway, she is likely to tell you her favourite colour is 'whirring noise' or 'the smell of roast s'chung meat' just to annoy you" tells me more, and leads me to ask how she gained that philosophy which leads to her thoughts on change and the transience of life.
I also dislike the "flaws/strengths" categorisation that I find very common in character sheets because I'm of the opinion that well-written characters ought to have traits which are flaws in some situations but strengths in others. Someone with a fiery temper is likely to stand their ground well and not let themselves be treated as a pushover; someone who is loyal and honest may support their friends even when those don't deserve it and refuse to listen to people who are trying to point out genuine problems, or be easily manipulated because they are not used to thinking in that way.
Also also also, totally with you on the names. I have some dearly loved OCs that don't have names, and in fact chars like Zdeika (where the name just popped into my head) are extremely unusual for me, it's usually sweating blood and tears to get the names right.
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More importantly and without the selfish whinging, I am totally with you. Um. I tend to think that knowing your character's history, their values, how they will act in any situation (both of which will be strongly informed by their history!) is much more important than knowing their favourite colour. (I'm not sure I know *my* favourite colour either. And definitely not my favourite author.) And I think there are, like, useful and nonuseful ways to approach the question? Like. "Zdeika's favourite colour is teal" tells me nothing. "Zdeika does not believe in the concept of favourite colours because she thinks that is far too static a concept; if you ask her anyway, she is likely to tell you her favourite colour is 'whirring noise' or 'the smell of roast s'chung meat' just to annoy you" tells me more, and leads me to ask how she gained that philosophy which leads to her thoughts on change and the transience of life.
I also dislike the "flaws/strengths" categorisation that I find very common in character sheets because I'm of the opinion that well-written characters ought to have traits which are flaws in some situations but strengths in others. Someone with a fiery temper is likely to stand their ground well and not let themselves be treated as a pushover; someone who is loyal and honest may support their friends even when those don't deserve it and refuse to listen to people who are trying to point out genuine problems, or be easily manipulated because they are not used to thinking in that way.
Also also also, totally with you on the names. I have some dearly loved OCs that don't have names, and in fact chars like Zdeika (where the name just popped into my head) are extremely unusual for me, it's usually sweating blood and tears to get the names right.